News / SNP rural promises dismissed by Scott
THE SCOTTISH government has promised to tackle poor mobile and broadband coverage in rural areas like Shetland, as well as postal services and transport links if it wins independence in September’s referendum.
However its proposed Rural Connectivity Commission (RCC) has been dismissed by Shetland MSP Tavish Scott as another con to win a Yes vote.
The RCC would be an expert body looking at how to help remote areas of Scotland by:
• maximising mobile coverage, including 3G and 4G;
• extending good quality broadband;
• ensuring parcel delivery prices are fair;
• cutting fuel and energy prices;
• improving transport links and reducing air passenger duty by 50 per cent.
Deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “With independence, we will have the powers to regulate these crucial services and to remove barriers which are holding back rural areas from achieving their true potential.”
However Tavish Scott said Scottish ministers already had the power to improve broadband connections, as an example, and were using the independence debate as a smokescreen for inactivity.
“Ministers should be doing the job they are paid a huge amount of taxpayers’ money to do instead of using independence as a cover to do nothing.”
Scott pointed to the government and broadband provider BT’s decision to upgrade broadband in areas like Lerwick, which are already well served, while ignoring more difficult places like the north isles.
“Instead of spending money that will get improved services anyway they should be targeting the outlying areas of Shetland and the rest of the highlands and islands,” he said.
The government confirmed during its cabinet meeting in Wick on Monday that Sumburgh, Quarff and Cunninsgburgh would be the next places in Shetland to have superfast broadband rolled out.
Work is already taking place in Lerwick and other parts of Shetland where new cabinets are being installed to handle broadband speeds of up to 80mbps.
However Ian Brown of Shetland Broadband warned that people not connected to a cabinet or living more than 2 kilometres from a cabinet would not be affected by the improvements being carried out as part of the £146 million BDUK programme.
He added that he did not see how independence would improve broadband delivery in remote areas as it still boiled down to finding the money to make the improvements.
“There is nothing stopping the Scottish government from doing something about rural broadband communications before independence, but on the other hand where do they get the money to do this.”
Meanwhile the government announced on Monday that it would be extending the promise it made to island communities to keep revenue currently going to the Crown Estate to all coastal communities in Scotland.
They said that with independence, island and mainland coastal communities would receive 100 per cent of all leasing revenues from activities in their adjacent waters, including those from renewables deployment.
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